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Downtown
Wallis
TE photo, 2006 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Settlement by Anglos began in the late 1830s.
The town was first called Bovine Bend. In 1873 a post office under that
name opened but with the arrival of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway the
name was later changed to Wallis Station after the railroad director J.
E. Wallis. In 1911 the station was dropped and the community simply became Wallis.
In 1887 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway reached Wallis Station and
the town now had two railroad connections. In 1890 a number of Czech immigrants
started arriving about 1890 and by 1904 the town had a healthy population over
600. By the mid 1920s Wallis had 800 citizens although it wasn't until 1943 when
the population rose to 900. The post war population declined to less than 700
but by the mid 60s it was over 1,000. In 1991 Wallis' population was estimated
at 1,411. It has since declined to 1,311. | |
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